minestrone

I love minestrone. It has a nice, rich flavor, and it always feels like a healthy thing to eat. Whenever I've had too much junk and need some vegetables, I find myself craving minestrone.

I've made some rather fantastic failures in trying to get a good minestrone. Undercooked cabbage, flavorless broth. And then I got a copy of The Best Italian Classics, which has you cook a parmesan rind in the broth and finish it with pesto. And that made all the difference. This is a great soup.

Because I'm utterly incapable of cooking a meal for two people, I can't take seriously directions that include 3/4 C carrots to make soup for six to eight people. I always add a little more of this and a little more of that until suddenly I have a cauldron of food for forty. So be warned--my directions below make a ridiculous amount of soup.

minestrone (adapted from The Best Italian Classics, editors of Cooks Illustrated)

1 small green cabbage, chopped small

2-2.5 lbs baby carrots, chopped

2 lbs green beans, chopped

3 cans stewed tomatoes

6 cans cannellini beans

2 onions, chopped

half bundle of celery, chopped

2 medium zucchinis, chopped

2 bundles spinach leaves, stemmed and cut into strips

24 C water, more as needed

1 wedge parmesan, plus any extra rind available

2 C rice

1 small jar pesto

salt and pepper

Bring water and cheese rind to a boil in a very large pot. Add vegetables and cook till tender. (Because I never prepare mise en place, I heat the water and then just start chopping things and throwing them in, beginning with the vegetables that need to cook longest, such as cabbage and carrots.) Twenty minutes before finishing, add rice. (Wild rice should be added sooner; check directions on the package.) Five minutes before finishing, add beans. Remove pot from heat. Add pesto. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.

chicken breasts with duxelles stuffing and supreme sauce

A while ago, when I was feeling ambitious, I sat down with B and a stack of my cookbooks to make a list of dinner recipes to try. I've never been much of a cook when it comes to dinner. Dinner, unlike dessert, is something I don't crave. So it never occurs to me to cook it until I'm starving and then I don't feel like waiting. So I usually just eat cereal or a sandwich. Given the dearth of dinner posts here in the last several months, you can see how long my cooking resolution lasted. Anyway, this is the one thing on the list that I did make.

This was probably the most complicated dinner I've ever made, what with the packet of spices and the mirepoix and sauce and the stuffing. The mirepoix was the first I'd made, which was fun, even though it wasn't very appetizing. I cheated and used bouillion for the chicken broth. I also used a bag of those microwave steamed vegetables.

The recipe was easy enough to follow; it just took forever on account of chopping and slicing a million tons of mushrooms. The only trouble I ran into was that, being tired after the mushrooms, I neglected to pound my chicken (breasts rather than supremes), so I had to finish my chicken in the oven after frying it. I won't skip that step next time. There's nothing as disheartening as spending four hours in the kitchen to produce a meal and then taking a bite and realizing it's still basically raw.

I hate mushrooms, so I made this one entirely for B's benefit. By the time I was done, I hated mushrooms even more. The kitchen stank of mushrooms, and they ruined the sauce for me. But B enjoyed the meal, so I suppose it counts as a success.



breast of chicken with duxelles stuffing and supreme sauce (The Professional Chef, 8th ed., Culinary Institute of America)
10 (7-8 oz) chicken supremes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 lb duxelles stuffing
5 oz all-purpose flour, or as needed
6 fl oz. egg wash, or as needed
12 oz bread crumbs, or as needed
24 oz clarified butter or oil, or as needed
20 fl oz supreme sauce

1-Trim the chicken supremes and remove the skin, if desired. Butterfly each breast portion and pound between sheets of parchment or plastic wrap to even thickness.

2-At the time of service or up to 3 hours in advance, blot dry the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Fill each breast with a portion of the duxelles stuffing and roll the breast around the stuffing. Overlap the edges to form a seam.

3-Apply a standard breading: Dredge the chicken in flour, dip in egg wash, and roll in abread crumbs. (Refrigerate seam side down if breaded in advance.)

4-Heat .5" of the butter or oil to about 350 F over medium heat. Add the chicken to the hot oil seam side down first and pan fry for 2-3 min, or until golden brown and crisp. Turn once, and finish apan frying on the second side, 3 minutes more or until it reaches an internal temperature of 170 F. (Finish cooking in a 350 F oven once the ccrust is properly browned, if preferred.)

5-Blot the chicken on absorbent paper towels briefly before serving with the heated supreme sauce.



supreme sauce
2 oz clarified butter or vegetable oil
8 oz small-dice white mirepoix
12 oz blond roux
1 gal chicken stock
1 sachet d'epices
salt, as needed
ground white pepper, as needed
32 oz heavy cream
2 lb sliced mushrooms

Heat the butter or oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the mirepoix and stock, stirringa occasionally, until onions are limp and have begun to release their juices, about 15 min. They may take on a light golden color but should not be allowed to brown.

Add the roux to the mirepoix and cook until the roux is very hot, about 2 mi.

Add the stock to the pan gradually, stirring or whisking to work out any lumps. Bring to a full boil, then lower the heat to establish a simmer. (Use a heat diffuser, if desired, to avoid scorching.) Add the sachet and continue to simmer, skimming as necessary, until a good flavor and consistency develop and the starchy feel and taste of the flour have cooked away, 45 min. to 1 hr.

Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve. Strain a second time through a double thickness of rinsed cheesecloth, if desired, for the finest texture.

Return the sauce to a simmer. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add cream and mushrooms. Simmer, stirring and skimming the surface frequently, until it coats the back of a spoon. If desired, the sauce may be finished with 6 oz butter.



white mirepoix
2 parts onion or the white of leeks
1 part celery root or hearts
1 part parsnips


blond roux
3 parts flour
2 parts fat

Heat fat over medium heat and add the flour, stirring to combine. Cook to a golden straw color with a nutty aroma.


duxelles stuffing
6 oz minced shallots
2 oz butter
2 alb small-dice mushrooms
1 TB salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
8 fl oz heavy cream, reduced
8 oz fresh bread crumbs
1 TB achopped parsley
2 oz abutter, melted
20 fl oz supreme sauce

Sweat the shallots in the butter over medium-high heat until translucent, 2-3 min. Add the mushrooms and saute them until dry to create a duxelles. Season the duxelles with some of the salt and pepper.

Add the cream, bread crumbs, and parsley and mix well. If desired, the duxelles can be chilled and reserved for later use.

Dorie Greenspan's molasses spice cookies

When it comes to cookies, I am a chocolate fan, almost to the exclusion of everything else. And so are my mom and most of my siblings. My dad likes snickerdoodles, so we make them for him once or twice a year. B likes oatmeal cookies, pumpkin cookies, and inferior versions of snickerdoodles. I like none of these, so he has to buy his cookies from the store. If left to myself, I would never have tried these cookies. If left to myself, I'll never make them again, either. I just don't love spice cookies. But my sisters and I were baking and my sister wanted to try these, so we did.

Because I wasn't precise in following Dorie's directions, mine came out chewy. Fine with me, as all of us who ate them prefer chewy cookies to crispy. In fact, the texture was the major draw of these cookies for B and me. The level of spice and the flavor of the molasses were nice. My dad, who had wrinkled his nose at the idea of pepper in cookies, ended up liking them a lot. As spice cookies go, these are good. But me, I'm sticking with chocolate.

Molasses Spice Cookies (from Baking, Dorie Greenspan)
2.5 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
.5 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
.5 tsp ground cinnamon
.25 tsp ground allspice
pinch cracked or coarsely ground black pepper
16 TB unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C (packed) light brown sugar
.5 C molasses (not blackstrap)
1 large egg

about .33 C sugar, for rolling


Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and pepper.

With a mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add brown sugar and molaasses and beat for app. 2 min. to blend. Add egg and beat for 1 min. more. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, mixing until flour and spices disappear. If some flour remains on bottom of bowl, to avoid overbeating, mix by hand with a rubber spatula. Dough will be smooth and very soft. Divide dough in half and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Freeze for 30 min. or refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to 4 days).

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Put the sugar in a small bowl. Working with one packet of dough at a time, divide it into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a smooth ball between your palms. One by one, roll the balls around in the bowl of sugar, then place them on the baking sheets. dip the bottom of a glass into the sugar and use it to press down on the cookies until they are between .25 and .5" thick.

Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the tops feel set to the touch. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and, iaf the cookies have spread anda re touching, use the edge of a spatula to separate them while they are still hot. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the second batch of dough.

rhubarb big crumb coffee cake

I saw this recipe in the Times a couple of years ago and have been meaning to try it ever since, as B and I both love coffee cake.

This was a hit--quick, easy, and delicious. B even liked it despite his hatred of ginger. Unfortunately, I was having bad problems with heartburn when I made this, and between the rhubarb and the rich crumb topping, I wasn't able to eat more than a slice. But I will be making it again.

Rhubarb Big Crumb Coffee Cake (from the New York Times)

Rhubarb filling

1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Crumbs

1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1 3/4 cups cake flour

Coffee cake

1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. For filling, slice rhubarb 1/2 inch thick and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.

2. To make crumbs, in a large bowl, whisk together sugars, spices, salt and butter until smooth. Stir in flour with a spatula. It will look like a solid dough.

3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.

5. Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from rhubarb), 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

NYT chocolate chip cookies

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to making the NYT chocolate chip cookies. These cookies were the ultimate test of will power--waiting thirty-six hours to bake them? That is way too long. But I managed to hold out until thirty-four, and the results were fantastic. I didn't roll mine in salt before baking because the dough tasted salty enough to me. I did put the dough back in the fridge between rolling each batch to keep the butter as cool as possible. And I was glad that I spent the extra money to use the chocolate disks (I used Guittard). These cookies were delicious, and I will totally make them again . . . as soon as I can stand to wait another day and a half to satisfy a cookie craving.

chocolate fudge cake with chocolate buttercream and peanut butter mousse

I made this cake for my brother's birthday. This was the first time I'd tried any of Beranbaum's recipes. The chocolate cake was every bit as good as she'd promised. I don't usually care for buttercreams but decided to try the milk chocolate buttercream she recommends to go with the chocolate fudge cake. Unfortunately, I still didn't like it, and it didn't go well with Cafe Johnsonia's tasty peanut butter mousse. I filled the cake with the buttercream and mousse, used some buttercream for a crumb coat, and covered the whole thing in faux buttercream.


I have to say, this is by far the ugliest cake I've ever made. It was fun to put together, though, and I learned some interesting things for next time. (For instance, I didn't know that the frosting color would continue to darken with exposure to air. By the time I got the cake to my brother, it was much darker than in these pictures.)

















naked seal

















crumb coat























chocolate fudge cake (from The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum)
3 oz. unsweetened cocoa (Dutch-processed) (3/4 C + 3 TB) or 1 C nonalkalized cocoa (e.g. Hershey's)
12.5 oz boiling water (1.5 C)
3 large eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla
10.5 oz sifted cake flour (3 C)
15.25 oz light brown sugar (2 C, firmly packed)
2.25 tsp baking powder (if using nonalkalized cocoa, eliminate baking powder and use 1.25 tsp baking soda)
.75 tsp baking soda
.75 tsp salt
8 oz unsalted butter (1 C)

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, lightly combine the eggs, 1/4 of the cocoa mixture, and vanilla.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and remaining cocoa mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1.5 minutes to aerate and develop the cake's structure. Gradually add the egg mixture in three batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down the sides.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a spatula. The pans will be about 1/2 full. Bake 20-30 minutes or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. The cakes should start to shrink from the sides of the pans only after removal from the oven.

Let the cakes cool in the pans on racks for 0 minutes. Loosen the sides with a small metal spatula and invert onto greased wire racks. To prevent splitting, reinvert so that tops are up and cool cfompletely before wrapping airtight.

Grease two 9 x 1.5" cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment or wax paper, and then regrease and flour. (If you only have 2"-high pans, either do 2/3 the recipe for 1 layer or 1 1/3 the recipe for 2 layers.)


milk chocolate buttercream (from The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum)
1 lb milk chocolate
8 oz dark chocolate
12 oz unsalted butter (softened)

Break the chocolate into squares and place in the top of a double boiler. Set over hot but not simmering water on low heat. The water must not touch the bottom of the double boiler insert. Remove the double boiler from the heat and sitr until the chocolate begins to melt. Return to the heat if the water cools, but be careful that it does not get too hot. Stir until smooth, and cool until no longer warm to the touch. (The chocolate may be melted in a microwave oven if stirred every 15 seconds. Remove before fully melted and stir, using residual heat to complete the melting.)

In a bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixture at medium speed and beat in the cooled chocolate until uniform in color.


peanut butter mousse (from Cafe Johnsonia)
2 cups peanut butter (not natural)
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup heavy cream, chilled

Using an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and cream cheese. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until combined.

Beat the cream to soft peaks; fold into the peanut butter in two additions.

ganache-filled raspberries

I made these for fun a few months ago, when I was giving a chocolate dipping demonstration. (I'm not sure how I ended up doing that when my chocolate tempering skills are still more miss than hit, but it was a lot of fun.) They take way too long, but they're really cute. Just make your favorite ganace recipe and pipe it into a bunch of raspberries. (You're not supposed to wash raspberries, I think, but I just had to. Getting the water back out of them was a hassle.)

bittersweet ganache

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate

1 C heavy cream

Break the chocolate into pieces. Bring the cream to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. When ganache has cooled but is still pipeable, fill the raspberries.